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r?ng card, 600 Wolvertine graduates
"being on hand to cheer the re-entry
into Conference competition. Coach
Parrell has a crack squad at "Urbana
. and has hopes of carrying off the
honors.
University of Chicago swimmers
defeated Wisconsin, 39 to 29, at
Bartlett gym. Sam Williston, Chi
cago, cracked the. old record for un
der water swimming, hut was .pulled
from the tank unconscious. He was
revived in a short time.
The seventeenth annual tourna
ment of the American Bowling Con
gress opens tonight at Grand Rapids,
Furniture City fives being first teams
on the alleys. The tourney will con
tinue 24 days without a break in the
schedule.
A wire story a few days ago told
of the passing from boxing of the
last fighter, actually engaged in the
game, who was in the ring in the old
days of real fights and real fighters.
Ad Wolgast, suffering from a men
tal and physical breakdown as the
result of his years of activity in the
squared circle, probably never will
don the gloves again.
Go back seven years. Wolgast in
1910 was a clean, lithe, muscular lit
tle fellow, a boxer who never tired,
a hard hitter, a wonderful fighter.
The lightweight champion was
Bat Nelson, the greatest bear for
punishment the world had ever seen.
Nelson's system of fighting was to
permit himself .to be slugged,, bat-,
tered and pounded around the ring
until his opponent was worn out or
until he had broken his heart slam
ming away at a bleeding face.
Wolgast and Nelson were matched
for a 45-round fight in California. It
resulted in a battle of cavemen.
There has never been a fight since in
which primitive instincts were so
much cn the surface.
There have been few such jungle
fights in the whole history 61 the
ring, even in the days of bare-handed
fighting.
Nelson opened with his usual style.
He blundered forward, swinging with
both hands.
Wolgast met him coolly and de
liberately 'and pounded away at the
Dane's disfigured face, cutting if to
ribbons.
Ten, twenty, thirty rounds passed.
Nelson still lumbered forward after
his elusive antagonist, pawing and
swinging. 'Thirty-five rounds Nel
son's face was a huge blood clot One
eye was entirely closed, the other
was a narrow slit. His nose was,
flattened, one ear was half torn loose
and his body was a mass of bruises.
Wolgast was still cool and confi
dent. As his soggy gloves met the
bleeding face the ringside spectators
were showered with blood.
In the 39th round Nelson for the
first time in his life began to give
ground.
In the fortieth the spectators
howled at Ed Smith, the referee, de
manding that he st6p the fight
Smith looked appealingly at Nel
son's corner in hopes the sponge
would he thrown into the ring. When
his seconds took no action Smith
stepped between the fighters and
raised Wolgast's hand.
There was a new champion, but
the old champion had lost his title
standing on his feet fighting every
second. Then he staggered into his
corner while Wolgast left the ring.
Wolgast later lost his title on a
foul to Willie Ritchie and afterward
engaged in almost weekly bouts. His
health failed, but he continued to
box.
Then the superb constitution gave
way Ad Wolgast had passed.
o o
BURNED BY CHEMICAL BLAST
Dr. Wm. D. McNally, coroner's
chemist, 3741 N. Harding av., had
left side of face and neck badly
scorched yesterday afternoon when
chemical mixture with which he was
working exploded.
Deputy Coroners Ostrom, Kennedy,
and Webster smothered his burning
clothes with coats.